Rules
Three on-stage contestants, one a returning champion, were each given one point at the outset of the game, indicated by diamonds on the front of their podiums. Also in front of the contestants' podiums was an electronic wheel with numbers 0-9, blank spaces and a car symbol. The symbols on the wheel were spaced so that each spin had two contestants with numbers or the car symbol and a third with a blank space. Players spun the wheel by pulling a lever. After each spin, the player whose space was blank was shown the first halves of two riddle-type phrases, each with an acronym to be filled in. An example of these would be as follows:
"When T.O. speaks..."
"As predicted, the I.O.M...."
After selecting one of the two phrases, the host read the rest of the selected phrase (example: after selecting the first phrase above, the host read "...all of the House listens." Answer: Tip O'Neill). The first player to buzz-in and fill in the acronym correctly scored one point, and incorrect guesses subtracted one point. If neither opponent guessed correctly, the player who selected the riddle won $50. The first to score 6 points won the game & $500.
If the car symbol appeared under a contestant's pointer, that contestant attempted to guess which number was hidden under a question mark on the car's license plate. The first three weeks of the series had a separate plate used for each attempt. Later, previously incorrect numbers were automatically eliminated from each subsequent attempt. Guessing correctly won the player the car regardless of the game's outcome.
Read more about this topic: Your Number's Up
Famous quotes containing the word rules:
“The great challenge which faces us is to assure that, in our society of big-ness, we do not strangle the voice of creativity, that the rules of the game do not come to overshadow its purpose, that the grand orchestration of society leaves ample room for the man who marches to the music of another drummer.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“... cooking is just like religion. Rules don’t no more make a cook than sermons make a saint.”
—Anonymous, U.S. cook. As quoted in I Dream a World, by Leah Chase, who was quoted in turn by Brian Lanker (1989)
“There are ... two minimum conditions necessary and sufficient for the existence of a legal system. On the one hand those rules of behavior which are valid according to the system’s ultimate criteria of validity must be generally obeyed, and on the other hand, its rules of recognition specifying the criteria of legal validity and its rules of change and adjudication must be effectively accepted as common public standards of official behavior by its officials.”
—H.L.A. (Herbert Lionel Adolphus)